An In Vitro Tribological Astringency Assessment Method Based on Astringency Perception Mechanism

Area of Science:

• Food Science
• Tribology
• Sensory Science

Background:

• Astringency is a key oral sensation in foods and beverages like wine and tea.
• Quantifying astringency intensity is crucial for food science research.
• Existing methods for astringency assessment have limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate an in vitro oral tribological method for quantifying astringency.
• To mimic tongue-palate contact and friction for realistic sensory evaluation.
• To establish a correlation between friction coefficients and astringency levels.

Main Methods:

• Construction of a biomimetic soft-hard friction interface replicating oral surfaces.
• Utilizing porcine gastric mucin (PGM) as a model for salivary proteins.
• Measuring the coefficient of friction at the mucin-wine interface with varying tannin concentrations.

Main Results:

• The tribological system successfully detected changes at the mucin-wine interface.
• A calibration curve was established correlating friction coefficients with tannin concentration.
• The measured friction coefficient accurately indicated astringency intensity in commercial wine samples.

Conclusions:

• The developed in vitro oral tribological method provides a feasible and reproducible approach for quantifying food astringency.
• This method can capture the interaction between astringent compounds and salivary proteins.
• The study offers a new tool for objective assessment of astringency in the food industry.